Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Mod: The Donald called for big rallies yesterday to show us the yuge love he has in this country. Coming just ahead of tonight's big speech before Congress, it was supposed to warn the swamp that it had better get on the Trump Train because of his vast support out in the real America. So how'd it go? Mmm, not so good.Trump Throws Himself A Monday Rally Only To Find That No One Cares (Bipartisan Report link):Donald Trump has been going on and on about the size of the crowds when he speaks, ever since the empty bleachers that were photographed at his inauguration. Last week President Trump requested for his supporters to hold “massive” rallies in his favor. On Monday, they did their best to please him, but they showed how little support Trump really has.

While projecting the size of pro-Trump rallies, Trump mused on Twitter:

Although he predicted for them to be the biggest, he was incredibly wrong. Pictures from rallies throughout the country show very little attendance, with the most people in a single location being a couple of hundred.

Daniel Dale, a reporter for Toronto Star, tweeted some pictures that he found circulating on Twitter that showed the “massive” crowds that appeared at Trump rallies. Even Breitbart, which is a pro-Trump news site, projected for a massive turnout.

Now to take a closer look at individual locations where pro-Trump rallies were held. Raleigh, North Carolina had only a few dozen people:

In downtown Atlanta, Georgia, the crowd size wasn’t much different with “tens of people.”

St. Augustine, Florida had a slight increase of crowd population with about 100 people in support of Trump.

A local photographer in Denver, Colorado estimated about 200 people showed up.

Meanwhile, there were the residents of Bellingham, Washington, who stood in the pouring rain and gave anti-Trump activists a good laugh.

Mod: Judging by this showing of national fervor, I can't wait for tonight's speech.

Monday, February 27, 2017

Mod: Along with the sight of large crowds of angry constituents showing up at GOP town hall meetings all across America comes news of polling that reveals people really don't want to see the repeal of Obamacare. Despite what you might have been hearing. And, should that now suddenly timorous Republican Congress actuallyvote to do in the Affordable Care Act, they could face some harsh retribution at the ballot box in 2018. Will they do it anyway? Or, like the politicians they are, will these once fearsome Republicans capitulate? My guess is they're going to collapse like a cheap suitcase.Support for Obamacare at all-time high (CNNlink): Support for Obamacare is at an all-time high, according to two surveys released this week as Republican leaders continue to press the case for repeal amid fierce resistance at many town halls.

The latest Health Tracking Poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 48% of Americans view the law favorably, compared to 42% who have an unfavorable view. This is the highest level of favorability measured in more than 60 Kaiser Health Tracking Polls conducted since 2010.

The boost comes largely from independents, half of whom view Obamacare favorably compared to 39% who don't. Nearly three-quarters of Democrats continue to view it favorably, while about the same share of Republicans have an unfavorable view.

Also, a survey from the Pew Research Center found 54% of Americans approve of the Affordable Care Act -- the highest level ever recorded by Pew -- while 43% disapprove. That's up from an even split (48%-47%) in a Pew survey from December, suggesting support for the law may be galvanized by the ongoing public fight over its future.

Still, opinions on Obamacare remain divided. Predictably, Republicans are most likely to say they disapprove (89%) while Democrats are most likely to express approval (85%). But slightly more independents say they approve (53%) than disapprove (45%) -- up about 10 points from December.

Among those polled by Kaiser, the public remains divided along partisan lines on whether Congress should repeal the law. Some 47% said lawmakers should dismantle it, while 48% say it should not.

The Pew survey results also found that even among those who disapprove of the law, 25% want GOP leaders to "make modifications" while just 17% want to "get rid of the law entirely."

And while most Republicans disapprove of the law (89% to 10%), they are also divided over what to do about it -- 42% favor modifications while 44% favor axing it.

Mod: John Boehner, the former GOP Speaker of the House and a vocal critic of Obamacare, doesn't see the ACA going away anytime soon. John Boehner ‘started laughing’ at GOP’s latest phony promises about replacing Obamacare: report (Raw Storylink): As Republican House Speaker, John Boehner doggedly opposed the Affordable Care Act, pledging to kill former President Barack Obama’s signature policy up until the end of his tenure.

Now, Boehner admits that the current GOP leadership is more likely to make small reforms to Obamacare than “repeal-and- replace,” as congressional Republicans first promised.

At a health care conference in Florida, Boehner dismissed the GOP’s call to repeal Obamacare and come up with a new plan as mere “happy talk,” Politico reports.

“Congressional Republicans are going to fix Obamacare—I shouldn’t call it repeal-and-replace, because it’s not going to happen,” he said. In fact, Boehner “started laughing” in response to the idea that Republicans could swiftly steer a health plan through Congress. “Republicans never ever agree on health care,” he said, according to Politico.

The Republican leadership has made big promises about Obamacare’s replacement, while staying light on the policy details—even as angry constituents demand to know what will happen to their health care in town halls across the country. According to a Morning Consult/POLITICO poll, there’s been a large drop in support for getting rid of the ACA since the start of the year.

On Tuesday, Ryan made the philosophical case for Republicans’ plan, tweeting, “Freedom is the ability to buy what you want to fit what you need. Obamacare is Washington telling you what to buy regardless of your needs.” The strategy backfired, with critics pointing out that going broke over health care is not the most surefire way for Americans to achieve more freedom.

Mod: How taking away grandma's health care is going to"Make America Great Again" is lost on me. And unless the GOP has a political death wish they are probably not going to do it. No matter what President Blowhard has said. On another matter also getting some coverage, how would you like to be PricewaterhouseCoopers this morning? Not so much, maybe?Oscars 2017: What It Was Like Onstage During the Best Picture Mistake (The New York Times link): Jordan Horowitz knew something was wrong the moment he saw people in headsets scurrying across the Oscars stage.

Only a minute earlier Faye Dunaway had said the words that Mr. Horowitz had longed to hear — “La La Land” — as she announced the winner for the 2017 Academy Award for best picture. Mr. Horowitz, a producer on the film, and colleagues and cast members raced to the stage. Mr. Horowitz spoke first — “Thank you to the academy,” he began — but his excitement quickly dissipated, as he recalled the shocking end to the night in an interview with The New York Times after the awards.

“I’m holding the envelope and the award, and I had just given my speech, and there are people on the stage with headsets, and I thought, ‘That doesn’t seem right,’” Mr. Horowitz said at the Governors Ball.

“They asked to see my envelope, which I haven’t opened. Clearly something was wrong. They open my envelope, and it says ‘Emma Stone, La La Land.’ So clearly something is not right. The guys in headsets were going around with urgency looking for the other envelope — it just kind of appeared,” he said. “One of the guys opens it, and it says ‘Moonlight,’ and I took it onstage and went to the microphone and said what I said.”

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm that oversaw the academy voting and handled the award envelopes, issued a statement on Monday morning that apologized to the two movies; the award category presenters, Ms. Dunaway and Warren Beatty; and to Oscar viewers “for the error that was made during the award announcement for best picture.”

“The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected,” the statement continued. “We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred. We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the academy, ABC and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation,” a reference to the network and the host of the Oscars ceremony.Mod: Sounds like it is not going to be a happy day at the office.sierramadretattler.blogspot.com

Sunday, February 26, 2017

We all have choices to make in life, and what they are and why we made them can determine how things will likely end up for you.

It can be that way with rainbows as well. Recently a very pronounced and visible rainbow appeared over the skies of Sierra Madre, and it too made a choice. Or, rather, two choices. And though these were apparently made at the exact same moment, they were decidedly different.

In this first photo we can see that our rainbow has fortunately decided to end its journey at St. Rita's Catholic Church on N. Baldwin. This picture showed up on the front page of the Mountain Views News this weekend.

Very inspiring, and hopefully this typifies the better choices in life that you have made for yourself. Or, at the very least, hoped to make.

However, and as this next photo shows us, that exact same rainbow also chose an entirely different place to make its landfall. And apparently at the very same moment. This photo appeared somewhere in that vast mulch of information known as Facebook.

Isn't this a bit like all of our choices? Hoping for one thing, while also doing the other? That is assuming, of course, you have the self-awareness and courage to admit to it.

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Mod: It has become fairly obvious to anyone with even an ounce of patriotism remaining that the alt-right Trumpitista reactionaries are working very hard to sell out America's interests to Vladimir Putin's Russia. Think of the oil money to be made, and journalists to be imprisoned. But did you ever really expect to see Trump loving delegates to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) actually waving Russian flags with the name "Trump" emblazoned on them? This happened yesterday, and here is some of the coverage. How could these people have been this clueless? Or, heavens help us all, can it be these false flag nitwits actually thought this was a good idea? Trump fans were waving tiny Russian flags until CPAC staff confiscated them (Voxlink): Here’s an odd sign of the times. Snapchat’s Peter Hamby was at National Harbor to watch President Donald Trump’s speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, and he saw audience members waving tiny Russian flags emblazoned with the name “TRUMP.” Staffers seem to have swiftly realized this was a bad look for a president who is under suspicion of a variety of shady ties with Russia, and confiscated them.

CPAC scrambles to control damage after attendees wave Russian flags during Trump speech (Raw Storylink): Staffers at CPAC quickly scrambled to confiscate Russian flags with the word “TRUMP” written on the front that were being waved by attendees during President Donald Trump’s speech on Friday.

The trouble began when some attendees took out pro-Trump flags to wave during the president’s speech that also happened to have the same white-blue-and-red striped pattern as Russia’s official flag.

Reporter Peter Hamby notes that CPAC staffers quickly realized that its attendees were waving Russian flags, and moved to confiscate them.

In addition to the attendees waving Russian flags, journalist Sarah Posner reports at least one attendee was spotted wearing a “Make Russia Great Again” t-shirt.

ABC News’s Ali Rogin has also posted a photo of a larger version of the Russian Trump flag.

Mod: So how did this happen? How is it a room filled with supposedly "more patriotic than thou" so-called conservatives came to wave Russian flags with the Orange One's name written on them? The Huffington Post shares the news with us.

CPAC Crowd Duped Into Waving Russian Flags During Trump Speech (Huffington Post link): A pair of progressive moles with a sense of humor were apparently responsible for a grand — although short-lived — prank at the Conservative Political Action Conference that had members proudly waving tiny banners emblazoned with the name “Trump” that were actually Russian flags.

The pranksters passed 1,000 red-white-and-blue Russian flags before Donald Trump’s speech at the conservative confab in Maryland on Friday. Audience members scooped them up and waved them enthusiastically as Trump railed against the media. He also tweeted a series of attacks earlier against the FBI, accusing it of leaking information that the White House had pressured the bureau to publicly dispute reports of contact between Trump’s aides and Russia.

The flag tricksters identified themselves as Jason Charter and Ryan Clayton with the self-described “resistance” group Americans Take Action. They purchased tickets to the conference shortly before Trump was to take the podium and handed out the flags, Charter told The Huffington Post.

Charter, 22, said that the gag was intended to mock Trump’s admiration of Russian President Vladimir Putin and highlight concerns about Trump administration ties to Russia. “Donald Trump is selling out the U.S.,” he said.

The prank went surprisingly smoothly, he added. “I asked people if they wanted a Trump flag and they took it,” Charter said. “There were only about five people who said, ‘Wait a minute, this is the Russian flag.’”

Mod: I am not sure what to say here. I've always said most Trumpers are fools, but to this level of abject cluelessness? Do they really not know anything at all? And, even more importantly, will we ever be able to put this behind us?

Friday, February 24, 2017

Mod: Some misinformed people are mistakenly defending the current administration because they believe it is "conservative." Nothing could be further from the truth. Rather it is now the most extreme and radical this country has ever seen. Steve Bannon, the puppet master many have come to believe is the actual functioning president these days, has been getting some highly focused attention due to his outsized role at the CPAC confab taking place as we type outside of Washington DC. Much of it similar to the kinds of cites I'm posting below. Bannon vows a daily fight for ‘deconstruction of the administrative state’ (Washington Postlink): The reclusive mastermind behind President Trump’s nationalist ideology and combative tactics made his public debut Thursday, delivering a fiery rebuke of the media and declaring that the new administration is in an unending battle for “deconstruction of the administrative state.”

Stephen K. Bannon, the White House chief strategist and intellectual force behind Trump’s agenda, used his first speaking appearance since Trump took office to vow that the president would honor all of the hard-line pledges of his campaign.

Appearing at a gathering of conservative activists alongside Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Bannon dismissed the idea that Trump might moderate his positions or seek consensus with political opponents. Rather, he said, the White House is digging in for a long period of conflict to transform Washington and upend the world order.

“If you think they’re going to give you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken,” Bannon said in reference to the media and opposition forces. “Every day, it is going to be a fight.”

Bannon has emerged in the minds of many Trump opponents as a mysterious and menacing puppeteer, portrayed as a harrowing Grim Reaper on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” He is best known for being the former executive chairman of Breitbart News, a conservative news site. Bannon once called Breitbart a “platform” for the alt-right, a small movement whose adherents are known for espousing racist, anti-Semitic and sexist points of view.

Former Ohio governor Ted Strickland said Bannon is a “dangerous person driven by an authoritarian ideology who, I fear, has more influence than anyone in the administration.”

“This is a mean, vicious, intolerant group,” Strickland continued. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my political life.”Stephen Bannon molded Breitbart into a far-right sledgehammer. How it will be wielded in the Trump era? (Denver Postlink): A few days after Stephen Bannon was named chief strategist in President Donald Trump’s White House, one of his best-known proteges praised him on British television.

“I am a gay Jew and he made me a star,” Milo Yiannopoulos, the frequently profane Breitbart.com columnist and cyber provocateur, told a Channel 4 interviewer in November.

While Bannon oversaw the Breitbart News Network, Yiannopoulos built an enthusiastic fan base for his caustic writings. One article proclaimed that birth control makes women “stupid and unattractive” and argued against contraception because “we need the kids if we’re to breed enough to keep the Muslim invaders at bay.” To him, most women are “hysterical hypercritical harpies towards their boyfriends and husbands the vast majority of the time.”

He co-wrote a column that praised the intelligence of white supremacists, and he got banned from Twitter after taunting African-American actress Leslie Jones, who he said looks like “a black dude.”

Bannon, however, has never wavered in his support for Yiannopoulos. “Bannon believes in Milo,” the site’s editor in chief, Alexander Marlow, said in an interview earlier this month. “He dedicated time and resources – both personally and with his businesses – to expanding Milo’s brand.”

The White House’s Various Connections to Newly Infamous Pedophilia Advocate Milo Yiannopoulos (Slatelink): There's an argument to be made that the best way to respond to Milo Yiannopoulos, the self-consciously provocative right-wing figure who just lost his speaking slot at the country's most prominent conservative conference because he once suggested it's acceptable for adult men to have sex with 13-year-olds, is to ignore him.

The various white-nationalist, anti-Semitic, misogynist, and transphobic rhetoric that Yiannopoulos emits is transparently crafted to "get attention" and provoke backlash, the thinking goes—so why give him the satisfaction? One answer to that is that unlike truly fringe figures like David Duke, Yiannopoulos does have a constituency—his Facebook page has 2 million followers—and his supporters include the president of the U.S. and some of the president's top advisers.

To wit: Before joining the Trump campaign, White House senior adviser Steve Bannon was the publisher of Breitbart, the far-right site on which Yiannopoulos posted much of his most infamous work, e.g. the column in which he wrote that American women should stop taking birth control because they need to "breed" in order to "keep the Muslim invaders at bay."

Said Yiannopoulos of Bannon in a Washington Post piece: "He made me a star." Bannon has praised Yiannopoulos' work as "valuable." (Yiannopoulos resigned from Breitbart on Tuesday.)

In July, the Trump campaign held a Reddit AMA that was exclusively open to members of The_Donald, a subforum rife with anti-Semitism, white supremacist ranting, and various other forms of hate-speech garbage. (At the time, I noted that the word c*** had been used on The_Donald 458 times.)

The_Donald's most prominent member was Milo Yiannopoulos, who'd just been banned from Twitter for inciting harassment of black actress Leslie Jones. Trump answered questions from only 12 users of the many who submitted comments; one of them was Yiannopoulos.

Just-ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn called Yiannopoulos "brave" and said he was a "phenomenal individual" at a November conference for young conservatives.

In February of this year, Trump tweeted a threat to revoke the University of California–Berkeley's federal funding because it had canceled Yiannopoulos' appearance on campus when protests against him turned violent.

With all these fans at the top levels of government, it seems like this Milo guy might just land on his feet!

Incidentally, some of the other users from whom Trump took questions during the Reddit AMA had previously used the The_Donald forum to refer to a high-profile victim of an alleged sexual assault as a "little whore," to refer to multiracial Daily Show host Trevor Noah as "filth from South Africa," and to refer to Black Lives Matter marches as "chimp outs." Again—these are the people Trump made time to take questions from during an exclusive campaign Q&A event.

We dumped about 2,000 tons of sewage in the White House on Jan. 20, and it's going to take a long time to clean it all out.

Steve Bannon Cited Italian Thinker Who Inspired Fascists (The New York Timeslink): Those trying to divine the roots of Stephen K. Bannon’s dark and at times apocalyptic worldview have repeatedly combed over a speech that Mr. Bannon, President Trump’s ideological guru, made in 2014 to a Vatican conference, where he expounded on Islam, populism and capitalism.

But for all the examination of those remarks, a passing reference by Mr. Bannon to an esoteric Italian philosopher has gone little noticed, except perhaps by scholars and followers of the deeply taboo, Nazi-affiliated thinker, Julius Evola.

“The fact that Bannon even knows Evola is significant,” said Mark Sedgwick, a leading scholar of Traditionalists at Aarhus University in Denmark.

Evola, who died in 1974, wrote on everything from Eastern religions to the metaphysics of sex to alchemy. But he is best known as a leading proponent of Traditionalism, a worldview popular in far-right and alternative religious circles that believes progress and equality are poisonous illusions.

Evola became a darling of Italian Fascists, and Italy’s post-Fascist terrorists of the 1960s and 1970s looked to him as a spiritual and intellectual godfather.

They called themselves Children of the Sun after Evola’s vision of a bourgeoisie-smashing new order that he called the Solar Civilization. Today, the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn includes his works on its suggested reading list, and the leader of Jobbik, the Hungarian nationalist party, admires Evola and wrote an introduction to his works.

More important for the current American administration, Evola also caught on in the United States with leaders of the alt-right movement, which Mr. Bannon nurtured as the head of Breitbart News and then helped harness for Mr. Trump.

“Julius Evola is one of the most fascinating men of the 20th century,” said Richard Spencer, the white nationalist leader who is a top figure in the alt-right movement, which has attracted white supremacists, racists and anti-immigrant elements.

Mod: I think it is time that some of our conservative friends opened their eyes and took a good hard look at what they are defending.

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Mod: Realistically this won't have too much of an effect in Washington DC, but apparently these council members just wanted to make a statement. Done in hopes that others will follow their lead. After all, they were the first to do this, right? So will we see this on a Sierra Madre City Council meeting agenda anytime soon? Somebody should ask. You never know.California City's Council Votes To Impeach Donald Trump (6abc.com link): The first 100 days of the Trump administration aren't even over yet, but the president is already facing calls for impeachment ... not from Congress, but a city council in California. Richmond City Council says it has become the first city in the country to go on record in support of impeachment hearings for President Trump.

The council acknowledged how unusual it was to call for the president's impeachment. He's been in office for only a month, but the vote was unanimous. "Unfortunately with this president it's oddly appropriate," said Richmond City Councilmember Jael Myrick.

Councilmember Gayle McLaughlin spearheaded the resolution, which calls on Congress to investigate the president's business holdings, something his critics believe are grounds for impeachment. "This is our voice," she said. "This is our country. We have a right to speak up."

Even in this progressive city, there was one vocal Trump supporter who was eventually thrown out for swearing at the council.

"Actually you don't have a voice because the GOP controls Congress and you people are stupid enough to think Congress will impeach Trump," said Richmond resident Mark Wassberg.

Supporters of the resolution, however, remain undeterred.

"A lot of politicians aren't willing to go on the record to do this because it can go against them," said Richmond resident Ellen Faden. "But as grass roots, as Bernie said, we have to start from the grass roots."

By passing this resolution, the Richmond City Council is now hoping it'll inspire other cities to do the same.

Mod: This next story is troubling for me because I like coyotes. They're kind of like dogs, but a whole lot smarter and certainly more independent.

Arcadia OKs $15,000 in funding for coyote-culling plan (KPCClink): The city of Arcadia voted to approve $15,000 in taxpayer money to trap and kill coyotes in the city at Tuesday night's city council meeting. The vote was 4-1, with Mayor Tom Beck the only dissenting vote.

The council first voted unanimously for the plan itself earlier in February, as residents asked for the action after recounting stories of pets being attacked or stalked by coyotes. However, the move didn't sit well with animal advocates.

Project Coyote was at the council meeting to persuade city officials to adopt a co-existence plan.

Randi Feilich of Project Coyote said coexistence requires public education.

"Don't leave pet bowls outside ... take out the trash the morning that it's supposed to come, seal off your trash containers," she told KPCC before the meeting. "Keep fallen fruit off the ground, because coyotes like fruit."

The city of Los Angeles and the city of Calabasas currently have coyote coexistence plans in place.

Mod: My take? Keep the coyotes. After all, they were here first.sierramadretattler.blogspot.com

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Mod: As you have probably heard, the folks behind the move to put a "Calexit" initiative on the ballot in 2019 have been hard at work. And there are some who think that this might be an especially good idea, particularly a few of those who are unhappy about Donald Trump living in the White House. But who would really benefit by the breakup of the United States? Maybe the same folks who have never quite managed to get over the dissolution of the USSR? The following two articles should help make this more clear for you.California Secession Advocate Faces Scrutiny Over Where He's Based: Russia (MSNlink): YEKATERINBURG, Russia — This provincial Russian city, about 1,000 miles east of Moscow, is about as unlikely a place as any to find the leader of one of the more unlikely political causes to arise in opposition to President Trump. But Louis J. Marinelli, the 30-year-old English teacher who is the president of the Yes California movement, which seeks independence for the state, has decided to call it home.

Word of “Calexit,” a Quixotic idea that has floated around California for years, spread on social media after the election of Mr. Trump in November. Even though it has virtually no chance of succeeding — it would require an amendment to the Constitution — it has gained some traction in the state. Several technology industry leaders have voiced their support, and a ballot measure is in the works for the 2018 election.

Now with renewed attention on the movement, Mr. Marinelli is under scrutiny for living in a country that many in the United States see as an adversarial power.

And back in California, he is on the defensive for accepting travel expenses and office space from a Kremlin-linked nationalist group. That acceptance has raised the prospect that Russia, after meddling in the election to try to tip the vote to Mr. Trump, as United States intelligence agencies have said, is now gleefully stoking divisions in America by backing a radical liberal movement.

Mod: While Trump and many Republicans are increasingly loving their Putin, you need to be aware that Russia is continuing to try to sow havoc in the U.S. by promoting secession movements not just in California, but Texas as well. This from ABC News.

Standing in a conference room in the Ritz Hotel in central Moscow on Sunday, Smith nodded noncommittally and handed over his business card. It wasn’t the only incongruous encounter taking place at the Ritz at what has been dubbed Moscow’s international conference of separatists, an eclectic Kremlin-funded gathering of organizations and sometimes wacky individuals pressing for self-rule for often unlikely territories.

And among the few dozen activists comparing ideas for how to achieve self-determination, were two Americans campaigning for Texan and Californian secession from the United States.

The conference, now in its second year, is funded largely by the Kremlin and organized by the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, a group that closely follows government positions. The movement says it is unconnected to the Kremlin, but the hotel conference was almost entirely paid for by a charitable fund founded by President Vladimir Putin, which provided close to $546,000 for the project, according to public records. The attendees, including the Texan delegate, had been offered free flights and accommodation.
“We’re here to have a dialogue. We’re not in agreement with all the groups that are here,” Smith said. “We’re here for very specific reasons. We came here to make a statement on behalf of the people of Texas.”

It was a sentiment echoed by Louis J. Marinelli from the YES California Independence Campaign, there to get his message out about his plan to make the Golden State a nation.

“We want to draw attention to our campaign,” Marinelli said. “We’re not signing an alliance with Russia or anything like that."

The two secessionists’ urge for independence stems largely from a distaste with American foreign policy and a sense the U.S. has become dysfunctional. A gentle-mannered IT consultant married to a Russian, Marinelli is aiming for a secession referendum by 2019.

“The U.S. government is so dysfunctional it can’t be repaired from within anymore, and if we were a separate nation running our own affairs, we could improve the quality of life for Californians,” Marinelli said.

Both men were hoping for a Donald Trump victory in the U.S. presidential elections, banking on a surge in people looking to detach themselves from America. The U.K.'s recent "Brexit" vote to leave the European Union had also heartened many attendees.

But why exactly the Kremlin had decided to pay to gather them in Moscow, few among the foreign attendees could say. Nor did they appear particularly interested.

“I’m not here to make presumptions about potential reasons for this conference,” Smith said.

However, the conference -- and its location in one of Moscow’s expensive hotels, within shouting distance of the Kremlin walls -- slots into a recognizable recent Russian strategy.Russia has been backing far right political parties in the West, in particular, reportedly funding France’s anti-European Union party, the Front National, with a $10 million loan. The practice echoes that of the Soviet Union, which secretly supported radical fringe groups around the world, but now coupled with elaborate disinformation campaigns from state media outlets.

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Mod: Poor Milo had a very bad day yesterday. He lost his Simon & Schuster book deal, CPAC changed its mind about having him give the keynote address at their convention, and Breitbart openly discussed firing him from his senior editor gig. Not the kind of sunny day the lost darling of the Trumpian right might have hoped for when he woke up that morning. Here is how TheNew York Times describes this unhappy tad's debacle.Milo Yiannopoulos’s Pedophilia Comments Cost Him CPAC Role and Book Deal (TheNew York Timeslink): Milo Yiannopoulos, a polemical Breitbart editor and unapologetic defender of the alt-right, tested the limits of how far his provocations could go after the publication of a video in which he condones sexual relations with boys as young as 13 and laughs off the seriousness of pedophilia by Roman Catholic priests.

On Monday, the organizers of the Conservative Political Action Conference rescinded their invitation for him to speak this week. Simon & Schuster said it was canceling publication of “Dangerous” after standing by him through weeks of criticism of the deal. And Breitbart itself was reportedly reconsidering his role amid calls online for it to sever ties with him.Mr. Yiannopoulos’s comments, which quickly created an uproar online over the weekend, put many conservatives in a deeply uncomfortable position. They have long defended Mr. Yiannopoulos’s attention-seeking stunts and racially charged antics on the grounds that the left had tried to hypocritically censor his right to free speech.

But endorsing pedophilia, it seemed, was more than they could tolerate. The board of the American Conservative Union, which includes veterans of the conservative movement like Grover Norquist and Morton Blackwell, made the decision to revoke Mr. Yiannopoulos’s speaking slot and condemn his comments on Monday.

Mod: How the mighty have fallen. It was only a little more than two weeks ago that the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, used the prestige of that mighty office to defend Milo's rights to free speech after riots caused the cancellation of his planned for address at UC Berkeley. Here is how Breitbart News described it (link).

Mod: Given yesterday's shocking revelations and the censorious reaction of the political right to all of that, perhaps PresidentTrump and the rest of the reactionary crowd that enabled this creep now owe those misunderstood Berkeley demonstrators an apology?sierramadretattler.blogspot.com

Monday, February 20, 2017

Mod: Tony Brandenburg wrote about this dirtbag a couple of days ago (link). But, as a refresher, Milo Yiannopoulos is one of the reigning star editors at the website Breitbart. Milo is so highly regarded in certain of the more countercultural alt-right circles that he has been scheduled as the keynote speaker at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC. A very big deal event for celebratory reactionary types. Breitbart is the famous so-called conservative fake news source that Steve Bannon helped to create. And Steve, as you must know by now, is today one of the most trusted and closest mighty whitey advisors to President Trump. Quite a little daisy chain for us to contemplate on this President's Day, right? So when a noted Breitbarter of Yiannopoulos's considerable stature is captured on tape advocating for pedophilia, it is a big event and needs to be as widely discussed as possible. Here is how the website Occupy Democrats puts it.

“We get hung up on this sort of child abuse stuff,” Yiannopoulos is heard saying in a video, “to the point where we are heavily policing consensual adults.”

“In the homosexual world, particularly, some of those relationships between younger boys and older men — the sort of ‘coming of age’ relationship — those relationships in which those older men help those young boys discover who they are and give them security and safety and provide them with love and a reliable, sort of rock, where they can’t speak to their parents,” he added.

The comments are, of course, completely unacceptable.

“It sounds like molestation to me,” said Rogan. “It sounds like Catholic priest molestation to me.”

“But you know what? I’m grateful for Father Michael. I wouldn’t give nearly such good head if it wasn’t for him,” Yiannopoulos replied, using a euphemism for male oral sex.

The story was broken by the far-right conservative media outlet The Blaze only 24 hours after it was announced that Yiannopoulos was scheduled to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Unfortunately for Milo, video exists and there will be little he can do to claim he didn’t openly and proudly defend child rape, molestation, and pedophilia.

Mod: Here are some biographical tidbits on Yiannopoulos from Wikipedia (link).

Mod: Recently Yiannopoulos was scheduled to speak at UC Berkeley. His mere presence there was the cause of a riot, however, and the event had to be canceled. President Trump was so incensed by this turn of events that he actually threatened to defund UC Berkeley. Here is a Huffington Post article that describes Trump's anger over what happened there to his favorite advocate for man-boy love.Donald Trump Defends Far-Right Troll Milo Yiannopoulos (Huffington Postlink): PresidentDonald Trump lashed out at the University of California, Berkeley on Thursday after the school canceled an appearance by conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos.

Yiannopoulos, an editor at Breitbart, had been invited to speak at the university by the Berkeley College Republicans, but Wednesday’s event was called off after protests against him turned violent. Trump didn’t refer to Yiannopoulos by name, instead referring to “innocent people with a different point of view.”

Over 1,000 people gathered on Wednesday to protest Yiannopoulos, who was kicked off Twitter last year after he led a brutal harassment campaign against comedian Leslie Jones. The Breitbart editor, the self-proclaimed “most fabulous supervillain on the internet,” has been accused of using hate speech to incite his followers.

“In our view, Mr. Yiannopoulos is a troll and provocateur who uses odious behavior in part to ‘entertain,’ but also to deflect any serious engagement with ideas,” Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks said in a statement last week, noting that it’s unconstitutional for public institutions to ban “expression based on its content or viewpoints, even when those viewpoints are hateful or discriminatory.”

Yiannopoulos is a vocal supporter of the so-called alt-right, a white nationalist movement.

Trump’s comments were posted shortly after Fox News aired a segment on the event, with host Todd Starnes also calling for the school to be defunded.Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told “Fox and Friends” later Thursday morning that “the president has a point. It’s like [Berkeley students] don’t welcome free speech.”

It’s not entirely surprising that Trump would defend the notorious Breitbart editor. He also hired Steve Bannon, a former Breitbart executive with ties to white nationalism, to be one of his top advisers.

The largest conservative conference of the year – known as CPAC – is in the process of self-immolation after the invited keynote speaker, professional bigot Milo Yiannopoulos was recorded not only defending pedophilia but actually encouraging it.

In a hangout session recorded and posted online, the Breitbart writer is seen explaining to the group (including one person inexplicably wearing a wrestling mask) why raping children isn’t always bad. His justification was horrific.

“This arbitrary and oppressive idea of consent, which totally destroys the understanding that many of us have of the complexities and subtleties and complicated nature of many relationships.”

The relationship he was specifically referring to was talking about an adult having sex with a 13-year-old boy. Even the guy in the wrestling mask seemed embarrassed to be a part of this.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Mod: An interesting article from one of Great Britain's leading on-line news sites, The Independent.Donald Trump's presidency 'likely to be second shortest in history', says presidential historian (The Independentlink): Donald Trump’s presidency is likely to be the second shortest ever, a leading historian and author has claimed. Professor Ronald L Feinman predicted that the former reality TV star will stay in the top job "between the 31 days of William Henry Harrison in 1841", who died pneumonia and the "199 days of James A. Garfield in 1881", who died 79 days after he was shot by an assassin "after terrible suffering and medical malpractice".

Even if his time in office is "dragged out", Professor Feinman predicted that Mr Trump is unlikely to last the 16 months and 5 days of 12th president Zachary Taylor, who died of a digestive ailment while Head of State in 1850.

The 20th century American history professor, who recently published a book about the unfortunate fates of US leaders, added that he thought the “Pence Presidency” was inevitable. He was referring to Mr Trump's Vice President, Mike Pence, who would take over if Mr Trump was to leave the leadership.

In a blog post, he added that he thought it was likely that Mr Trump will be impeached or forced to resign in a matter of weeks.

His prediction comes shortly after the White House admitted the President was told several weeks ago that his National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had not told the truth about a telephone call with a Russian diplomat.

The news fuelled broader concerns about his closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the role his country may have played in helping Mr Trump's election.

Professor Feinman, who teaches at Florida Atlantic University, suggested the businessman turned politician is more generally unsuitable for office.

“Many foreign policy professionals are shaking their head at Trump’s inappropriate behaviour and language every time he speaks in public, or issues a Twitter comment, and his instability and recklessness”, he said, citing Mr Trump's decision to hold a security meeting over the North Korean missile test in a public space in earshot of other people as “a sign of his failure to act responsibly”.

“The fact that Vice President Mike Pence played a major role in pushing Flynn out is a sign that Pence is already asserting himself with Trump” he said, adding the Vice President often appears uncomfortable with Mr Trump’s “freewheeling and careless behaviour”.

No US president has ever been successfully impeached, although attempts were made to impeach Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson both were acquitted by the Senate.

Richard Nixon also resigned before he could be impeached for serious wrongdoing in the Watergate scandal.

Lawmakers say Trump's words matter — and hurt the country's standing abroad (Chicago Tribunelink): A growing roster of Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill say they believe President Donald Trump's pugnacious rhetoric and unpredictable behavior threaten to diminish the United States' standing around the world, do real damage to fragile diplomatic relationships and even weaken global stability.

Lawmakers are speaking in increasingly urgent tones about Trump's unusual foreign policy statements and his tendency to pick fights with domestic and international figures. They say it has taken a toll on the way key allies, foes and other foreign observers view the United States. Even members of Trump's own party are having difficulties vouching for him.

"A country's more than one person," said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., when asked whether he is concerned that the president's words have harmed the U.S. image. The senator, who dined Wednesday with Trump but has also criticized the president's posture toward Russia, added: "There's more than one voice in America."

In a striking speech to international defense officials gathered Friday in Germany, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., suggested that the survival of the Western world is at risk from some of the ideas Trump has embraced.

"The next panel asks us to consider whether the West will survive. In recent years, this question would invite accusations of hyperbole and alarmism. Not this year," McCain said, according to prepared remarks delivered Friday at the Munich Security Conference. "If ever there were a time to treat this question with a deadly seriousness, it is now."

McCain did not mention Trump, who did not attend the conference, by name. But it was clear that he was lamenting the policies and practices of the Trump administration - and their threat to global stability. He imagined how disturbed the security conference's founders would be. The forum was formed 50 years ago, at the height of the Cold War, to bring world powers together to discuss and further global stability.

"They would be alarmed by the hardening resentment we see toward immigrants, and refugees, and minority groups, especially Muslims," McCain said. "They would be alarmed by the growing inability, and even unwillingness, to separate truth from lies. They would be alarmed that more and more of our fellow citizens seem to be flirting with authoritarianism and romanticizing it as our moral equivalent."

In an interview for Sunday's "Meet the Press" with Chuck Todd, McCain was asked about Trump's Friday tweet that the press is the "enemy of the American people."

McCain warned that a free press is "vital" to "preserve democracy as we know it."

"And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That's how dictators get started," McCain said, clarifying that he was not calling Trump a dictator but warning that dictators start by "suppressing free press" and "we need to learn the lessons of history."

Bipartisan Senators Just Took Measures To Keep Trump From Destroying Russian Treason Evidence (Occupy Democratslink): Try as he might, President Donald Trump has not been able to cover-up his collusion with the Russian government and their involvement in changing the course of the presidential election. The director of the FBI, James Comey, met in secret with members of the Senate from both parties to discuss the looming investigation into Trump. During this meeting, protocols were put in place to prevent individuals in Trump’s administration from destroying documents which may be later used as evidence of the administration’s complicity.

The actual minutes of the meeting are unknown, as the members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are staying mum on what was said. However, that the meeting happened at all is terribly bad news for Trump.

What is bad news for the rest of the nation is that a secret meeting had to be held in the first place, rather than discussing the matter in a public forum. Trump has shown himself to be willing to go to great lengths to silence his critics for the pettiest of reasons – let alone on the very serious subject of him laying in bed with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

The leading Democrat who sits on the intelligence committee, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) confirmed the committee is actively pursuing an agenda to stop Trump and his team from destroying evidence:The committee has put in place a process to ensure the White House does not destroy documents lawmakers need for their investigation.

Warner further warned that he does not wish for the integrity of investigation to be lessened through partisan bickering, “What we are trying to do…is to not have this devolve into a partisan food fight that doesn’t serve the public purpose. This is so important that we get it right.”

Warner also commented on his exasperation with how Trump supporters – and the Republican Party as a whole – are willing to turn a blind eye towards the obvious involvement of the Russian government which has been confirmed by the NSA, FBI, and the CIA.

Trump's attacks on CNN aren't hurting it one bit (Los Angeles Timeslink): President Trump keeps calling CNN fake news, but his administration’s positive effect on the cable news network’s business is real.

CNN President Jeff Zucker said Thursday that the recent ratings lift fueled by viewer fascination with the early days of the Trump presidency is putting the Turner Broadcasting unit on track for another record year of profitability.

“There is a tremendous amount of interest,” Zucker said during a press lunch held Thursday.

Zucker said CNN has set new highs in profit in the last three years, and 2017 will be no different. The network budgeted for a 25% decline in ratings for 2017 because 2016 was boosted by the unpredictable and often bizarre presidential election campaign. But the ratings and demand for ad time on the channel have remained strong in the early part of 2017. Zucker said CNN’s profit will be up again, hitting $1.1 billion.

(Late Add) Trump cites fake attack in Sweden (USA Todaylink): President Trump is taking ridicule for commenting this weekend on a terrorist attack in Sweden — because there wasn't one. "Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound," tweeted former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt, a frequent social antagonist of Trump.

In claiming a link between refugees and terrorism, Trump told a political rally in Melbourne, Fla., on Saturday: "You look at what's happening in Germany. You look at what's happening last night in Sweden ... Sweden ... who would believe this? Sweden, they took in large numbers, they are having problems like they never thought possible. You look at what's happening Brussels, you look at what's happening all over the world."

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Mod: Tony returns with a tour of the Alt-Right underworld. A Breitbart fueled orb of self-aggrandizing stars and race hustlers, all seeking a truer media glory in the era of Trump.War Boys
My favorite insane adventure/ dystopian/ action movie is Mad Max Fury Road. I really love it and saw it like a billion times. That is the truth, and there is nothing alternative about it. More than the other films in the franchise, Fury Road had a focus on the War Boys, an army of sacrificial bald guys in white face and quasi spooky make-up. They drive fast and blow stuff up. Muy mas macho. In fanboy land you can get your groove on (click here) and get lost in it all.

Go ahead, spray some chrome paint in your mouth.

War Boysare hand picked at a young age .... and are indoctrinated as zealots in the cult of V8 with Immortan Joe as their immortal leader. They were based on the Japanese Kamikaze pilots of World War II. They are completely loyal, blindly following their leader, never questioning the morality of his actions. They view death in service ..... as an honor.

The War Boy comes across - to me at least - as more like Hitler Youth than the Kamikaze they are supposedly based on.

Is it Performance Art?
Two of the three most famous names in the Alt-Right movement have caught my interest. Mostly because I think they are funny. They are so over the top and out of line that I can't take their rhetoric very seriously.

While Steve Bannon has made his move - and it was a bold one - both Gavin McGinnis and Milo Yiannopoulos have come across as clowns trying to squeeze into a Jetta. Both of these guys have found love in the Neo-Conservative online magazine Takimag. That is where you can find some of the .... uh .... talent that they have to expend.

Based on the fact that Jim Goad and Joe Bob Briggs are contributors to Takimag as well - not only opens up the very strong possibility that this is a put on at the expense of the gullible at the very least - or a biting satire at its absolute finest.

Devil's advocate
I know it is hard to see this as performance art, but it is. Let us define performance art, shall we? Performance art (click here) is a:

... performance presented to an audience within a fine art context, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or via media; the performer can be present or absent. It can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the performer's body, or presence in a medium, and a relationship between performer and audience. Performance art can happen anywhere, in any type of venue or setting and for any length of time. The actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work.

I have seen some of the most insane performance art up close, and I hate to say it, this is performance art. Maybe I am naive, but I think Gavin McGinnis and Milo Yiannopoulos are putting us on. I really do.

No leader can be that misguided. Oh. Wait.

McGinnis

Gavin McGinnis
A quick neutral bio should kick this off. So. Here is about as mellow and milquetoasty as I can find (click here).He was born in England, raised in Canada, and now resides in New York City. He married publicist and consultant Emily Jendrisak in 2005. They have three children. In 2013 he said that having children convinced him that he should be pro-life and that he went from being a lifelong atheist to a born-again Roman Catholic.

Roman Catholic? The religion born out of the Middle Eastern black prophet, Jesus, and the Southern European Vatican?

Gavin McGinnis is a comedian. That means he performs ART for a living. He may not be funny, but satire often isn't.

Don't get the impression that I am excusing anything. I am not. What I am saying is it is very possible that this movement is based on trademarks, copyrights and infamy, i.e. fame at whatever the cost.

No really. He is a comedian (click here), a writer, and a founder of Vice mag. He was bought out, probably for acting a fool. According to one of my frequent reads, Brooklyn Vegan (click here) Gavin McInnes was somebody who fit right in on a bill with future Run the Jewels collaborator Despot, comedians David Cross& Eugene Mirman, and Marnie Stern.

FYI, I hear those are funny people.

Plenty of comedians went the talk show route. Politics pays big money. In the era of Trump, what we are being shown by your president is to lie, cheat, and steal. Not too different from past presidents.

Except for the white power/orange man part. That isn't so funny.

McGinnis is among the funniest guys I have seen on Faux News. I can't help it. He cracks me up. He is funnier than Baskets (click here). Clearly the guy is under Pee-Wee's Bigtop, in the center arena, juggling Trump's balls. The ones Melania keeps on the mantle back at Trump Tower.

McGinnis can best be defined in his own words, which are often an atrocity, but his jewel in the crown for the time being is a little fraternity called Proud Boys. That doesn't come across as loopy as the rest of his art damaged spiel or rhetoric. It certainly doesn't imply that it is totally farcical, even if its members are so clueless that they are being laughed at. It also doesn't imply that this fails as performance art.

Or maybe. Maybe. Maybe I am the comedian, and McGinnis is simply a troglodyte.

Me, the cultured one. That is pretty damn funny.

Proud Boys Uno
The Proud Boys movement was started by Gavin McGinnis. They are pub crawlers with a mission from their pasty white god. It sounds vaguely familiar. From the same mold that brought all those other good ol' boy clubs like the Bohemian Club (click here) and its ilk. Not unlike the KKK, except these white power guys have the moxy to use their own names.

Probably a bad idea for the followers, no doubt. They will be seen as racist, while the jokers who set this in motion will eventually be seen as artists. The artist gain infamy, the followers forced into a lifetime of quasi regret.

There are differences in the exclusivity of membership for this club. Everyone can join, if you are white or can fool the panel that you are. And as long as you aren't a chick. If you are, you get a high ranking subservient role, you princess, you. You don't have to be rich to join the club. You just need to be either in on the joke (leadership) - or gullible to a fault (the rest of the dudes buying in).

Once this performance art falls into the hands of followers it loses all credibility as an art and becomes something far more ominous. It becomes just another stupid movement born out of a warped sense of humor, and planting evil as its byproduct.

Performance art, or not, McGinnis is a gang leader. He lets others hit, and take the beatings - while he gets to hang out and cash the checks.

At some point in time he's gotta give up the game and let us know he means it for reals ... or that he is just screwing with us very gullible Americans.

Yiannopoulos

Penis de MiloMilo Yiannopoulos is an alt-right performance artist. A journalist/ speaker/ senior editor at Breitbart mag. He also writes for Takimag, a neo-conservative online rag funded by some Greek millionaire dude. There is lots of money in free (hate) speech.

Milo's big thing is speaking at universities, outing immigrants who are in America bettering their lives, and outing gay and trans people. Milo is a real work of art (click here).

The 31-year-old, boastfully gay Breitbart writer—or “dangerous faggot”—has quickly become a hero to young conservatives and libertarians for smacking down the ridiculous out-of-control “social justice warriors” who troll college campuses. If Donald Trump defies political correctness, Yiannopoulos—an avid Trump supporter prone to calling The Donald “daddy”—obliterates it.

Milo also a Brit. And Greek. Why he wants to make America great again baffles me, mostly because he doesn't know what a great America is, was, or will be. In fact, I have as much right telling British students how to think, as he has telling my college-age kids the same.

I love that we quibble over the free speech rights of a guest in our country. Here is how the DailyBeast further describes him (link):

Online, he flirted with neo-Nazism, going by the handle “Milo Andreas Wagner,” donning a Nazi iron cross necklace and posing with Hitler tomes, before making a name for himself as a contrarian voice in the #Gamergate controversy and popular voice of the “alt-right”—the trendy moniker for white nationalism. Yiannapoulos is also a wealth of contradictions. He is openly gay, yet appears to despise gay people; tan and camp, yet just a few years ago was unkempt and far less theatrical. In opposition of gay marriage, he once wrote, “[Gay people] see themselves as faulty, so they exaggerate their imperfections in the company of others they see as similarly defective. Ironically, it’s precisely that profound feeling of being somehow broken that means a gay man’s sexuality often comes to be the defining characteristic of his personality. Who wouldn’t want to protect a child from a path that leads to such destructive self-loathing?”Yiannapoulos is also transphobic, singling out and harassing individual trans students during his controversial college speaking gigs; helped launch a racist online harassment campaign against Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones that got him booted from Twitter; and is an avowed misogynist, penning piece after trolltastic piece for Breitbart—a website which former exec (now Trump advisor) Steve Bannon characterized as “a platform for the alt-right”—mocking feminism, including the piece: ‘Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy.’ His campus speaking gigs have provoked protests, most recently by an outside anarchist group at UC Berkeley that turned violent.

His right to speak out against anyone he wishes to - in my country? OK. But I have the right to shout his loudmouth down. He can play whatever card he wants.

This movement is young, they do defy taboos and unfortunately, the alt-right has become impossible to ignore. Because it’s racist. I don’t mean “racist” like the left does, where merely being white and male is a sin. I mean rationalizing that you’re intellectually or culturally superior because you’re white. I mean believing that black and brown people are less valuable to society and should be viewed with contempt.

Does that sound ok to you?

Where do the nationalism and isolationist viewpoints stand now, Moderate Whitey to the Righty? Where is the indignation? Why are the anarchists the only Americans telling Milo to stfu?

The same Trump rules on imports should be applied to Milo as to every other foreign product. Hold him in secondary detention at the airport, check his butthole for explosives or whatever, and make him scale the same wall everyone else now has to jump over in both directions.

Milo is, simply, an outsider. He is an import. We need to tax his ass, check that visa - it is a work visa - and show him the same disrespect he shows Americans.

Just like those other imports with incendiary rules and mores that seem to piss everyone off when it comes from brown people.

Never mind that Milo is Greek and bleaches his coif.

Is he Rand Paul, or is he Ru Paul?

Is it to enhance his whiteness? Is it to poke fun at whitey? Is it simply performance? Is this just to play the game as an outsider? To prove to the northern European descendants in America that they are stupid, racist, heterosexual hypocrites? Is this simply a game?

Is this just the rantings of a flamboyantly gay performance artist?

The Complications of Race
Did I mention that Gavin McGinnis is another Brit with dual citizenship? Yep, Brit-Canadian.

Married an American woman with an eastern European surname. Sounds like Czech or Slovakian to me (click here).

She is part Native American. Like many of us, she is as American as Apple Piroshki. She is, like me, Heinz 57. McGinnis has three kids with his wife. Sounds like they are Heinz 58.

Hitler considered the eastern Europeans to be mongrels, which leads me to the next question. Does that sound like a card carrying member of Stormwatch?

Are you catching my drift? Maybe he is just messing with us.

Proud Boys Dos
Why are the alt right Brit imports so interested in America? I mean outside of making lots of money off the gullible minions? Not sure, but the journalism is probably secondary to the speaking engagements and tv gigs.

But the Proud Boys are nothing to laugh about. They use clever trigger free words, sometimes, and actively promote "white pride" and male chauvinism (click here).

There were about fifty men at this gathering and no women because women are not allowed. The basic tenet of the group is that they are “Western chauvinists who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world.” Like Archie Bunker, they long for the days when “girls were girls and men were men.” This wasn’t controversial even twenty years ago, but being proud of Western culture today is like being a crippled, black, lesbian communist in 1953.

They would like you to believe they are not alt-right, not racist, and terribly misunderstood by outsiders.

Like Milo Yiannopoulos, the Proud Boys confuse the media because the group is anti-SJW without being alt-right. “Western chauvinist” includes all races, religions, and sexual preferences.
Like most manifesto styled bowel movements, the Proud Boys have basic tenets. They are laid out by McGinnis as degrees. There are three of them.

First DegreeYou publicly declare you are a Proud Boy. This means you make your Western chauvinism public and you don’t care who knows it. If you support Trump (how can you not if you’re a Proud Boy?) and it comes up in the cafeteria, you proudly state your stance ... Our forefathers died in battle to protect our freedoms. The least we can do is be inconvenienced. There is no anonymity in pride.

Interesting. A Canadian telling Americans about our forefathers. Last I checked, the United States and Canada have different forefathers. He also lets his followers know up front that they need to discard any anonymity they wish to have. In other words, suckers, paint a target on your back.

Second DegreeYou must get the crap beaten out of you by at least five guys until you can name five breakfast cereals ... The rationale here is we all need better “adrenaline control.” Both physical fighting and arguing require you to maintain your composure and not get petty with ad hominem attacks or “I just … can’t” forfeitures. Defending the West against the people who want to shut it down is like remembering cereals as you’re being bombarded with ten fists. The bonding and camaraderie this violence produces is inspiring.

In other words, you are jumped in. I'm surprised they aren't calling their chicks mamas, and flying the stars and bars.

The other half of the second degree is #NoWanks as espoused by the “prophet” Dante (his name is often followed by “peace be upon him”). This program allows porn only once every 30 days and insists a man can only ejaculate if he is within one yard of a woman with her consent ... It gets young men off the couch and talking to women and it gets married men away from their computers and back into bed with their significant other. (Gay Proud Boys are exempt from #NoWanks because they are doing just fine for intercourse.)

If this sounds to you like a bunch of jocks getting psyched for the big game, I have to say, 'Yes, it does.' Don't you love the perks for gay men? That is how you cross over. Tweak the rules at the last sentence whenever a new issue arises. Proud (Gay) Boys rejoice. You can jerk off to other Proud Boys as long as you have their permission.

This degree sounds like quite a sticky proposition.

Third DegreeWhile retaining the principles of the first and second degrees, the third degree involves getting a tattoo that says “Proud Boy.”

Because what is a tough guy gang without a mandatory tattoo?

Antifa
Frequently painted as the new bad guys by the people who brought you by your wanna be fascist government, Antifa are probably the single, semi-organized street team who actively stand up to people like McGinnis and the thugs that have collectively embraced him.

Yeah, I know. They are anarchist and they get blamed for vandalism. BFD. I hate the banks too.

It doesn't make it true, it just means people blame it on them. Take my advice people of the left. Ridicule your opposition. You won't lose your mind that way, and it pisses them off way more.

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Quotes On Government

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." - George Orwell

"What we call civilized society is in reality a vast insane asylum held together at the points of guns." - Vito Caporale

"In our civilization, and under our form of government, intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office." - Ambrose Bierce

"It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them." - Mark Twain

"I would rather lose in a cause that will someday win, than win in a cause that will someday lose." - Woodrow Wilson

"The single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence, because it's so rare." - Daniel P. Moynihan

"There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you." - Will Rogers

"My experience in government is that when things are non-controversial and beautifully coordinated, there is not much going on." - John F. Kennedy

"Ask not what the government can do for you. Ask why it doesn't. - Gerhard Kocher

"The best minds in government? If any were, business would hire them away." - Ronald Reagan

"Government is not the doctor. It is the disease." - H.S. Ferns

"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government." - Edward Abbey

"Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under." - Henry Luis Mencken

"The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter." - Winston Churchill

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Readings

"Take stock of those around you and you will ... hear them talk in precise terms about themselves and their surroundings, which would seem to point to them having ideas on the matter. But start to analyse those ideas and you will find that they hardly reflect in any way the reality to which they appear to refer, and if you go deeper you will discover that there is not even an attempt to adjust the ideas to this reality. Quite the contrary: through these notions the individual is trying to cut off any personal vision of reality, of his own very life. For life is at the start a chaos in which one is lost. The individual suspects this, but he is frightened at finding himself face to face with this terrible reality, and tries to cover it over with a curtain of fantasy, where everything is clear. It does not worry him that his 'ideas' are not true, he uses them as trenches for the defense of his existence, as scarecrows to frighten away reality." - Jose Ortega y Gasset

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